Frog In Boiling Water. DIIV

An album that was almost never made, until DIIV's front man Zachery Cole Smith got his act together and the band started to work on the album as a team not as Cole Smith with three musicians accompanying him.

The result is a mellow shoegaze album. Some may call it indie because of the mellowness of the tempo and at times intensity. I opt for shoegaze, as this album was made to look at the points of one's shoes. Loads of guitars, over it the soft voice of Cole Smith, taking on the whole load of the world if not our solar system on his shoulders. Underneath it all is the solid drums of Ben Newman, keeping time and things together.

With two singles already reviewed on this blog, and the past three albums, finding the album here is close to a no-brainer. DIIV dives into the warm waters of WoNoBlog alright once again.

You might ask why? I can imagine someone listening superficially to Frog In Boiling Water commenting doesn't this all sound the same? Superficially, it does, I'll be the first one to admit that. Cole Smith appears to sing in the same style for the whole of the album, with a voice as detached from emotions as a doorknob at that. The tempo is sort of the same and guitars everywhere.

However!, and so much for that superficial listener. Listen, even just a bit, more closely and DIIV's world opens up for you. Layers of nuances and different sounds of the guitars come forward. Even all sorts of sound effects start coming through. This isn't an exclusively guitar packed album after all. It makes the album a pleasure to listen to. Even in that soft voice nuances come forward. The album comes alive with ease. But yes, it does take a little effort. Doesn't that go for most of the better albums, that they take some effort?

The band dares to open with a quite unharmonious riff, as if this is a Dutch alternative, postpunk rock band. 'In Amber' is one of the tougher songs on Frog In Boiling Water. The contrast with the soft voice of the singer is huge. The result is one of two: the careful listener playing things on the safe side of music is gone in the first minute of listening to the album. The rest is ready for a DIIV adventure. Luckily, I'm with the latter category. Again, listen beyond that riff and chords, and harmonically so much happens in 'In Amber'. The band must have worked hard to make sure this all came together and fitted. Over it all Zachery Cole Smith sings as if this is a nice top 40 hit song, as if everything going on around him is of no concern to him. Almost as if he wound up in the wrong studio. In other words, something is happening here, although you may not know exactly what it is.

This is just one example albeit one of the more extreme ones of how the songs on Frog In Boiling Water.develop along the way. My advise is to listen through that shoegazing, to find all them gems glittering in there. Believe me, this album is loaded with them.

Wout de Natris

You can listen to and order Frog In Boiling Water here:

https://diiv.bandcamp.com/album/frog-in-boiling-water